Chapter two – The Letter

The next morning Draco hadn't slept a wink for worrying about his father's reaction. He looked awful: there were dark bags under his eyes, his skin was pale, even for him and his hair was tousled and out of place.

"Blimey," whispered one of his dorm mates when they had seen his appearance – Finnigan he thought. "Didn't you sleep?"

Draco just shook his head and followed the others down to breakfast, where he was positive a howler would await. He was right.

The post arrived in a flurry of owls, hundreds of them. This gave many first years a bit of a shock when they heard rustling, and looked up to see hundreds of owls streaming into the Great Hall, circling the tables until they spotter their owners and dropping letters and packages into their laps. Draco looked up, and saw an official ministry owl flying straight towards him. Draco remembered what his father had said to him two nights ago, and suddenly he wished it was a howler.

Not noticing the rest of his year mates staring at him, Draco reached towards the letter once the owl landed.

Dear Mr D. Malfoy, the letter read

This notice has been sent to you on the request of your father. As his only child and the one concerned, he felt you should be informed of this announcement.

Mr L. Malfoy has seen fit, due to behaviour not befitting that of a Malfoy heir, to disown you. This means that you loose all claims you previously had as Malfoy heir, and all prior ties that you had to the Malfoy family. Your trust fund at Gringotts bank has been emptied of all liquid assets and all items in your possessions which previously rested within your quarters of Malfoy Manor have been placed within the vault as per his orders. Enclosed is the vault key.

You are asked by Mr L. Malfoy to find another place of residence for your summer holidays from Hogwarts. Mr L. Malfoy has granted you permission to continue to use his name until such a time when he is provided with another heir, at which time you are asked to legally change your surname. If Mr. L Malfoy is unable to produce another heir by the point of his death you will officially be reinstated as his heir and will gain control of all the Malfoy assets.

Yours sincerely,

Merrill Kritmun

Department of Family Affairs

Ministry of Magic.

Draco's mind went numb at reading the first few words of the letters, and by the time he had finished his arm went limp. He barely noticed as Weasley took the letter from him and scanned through it slightly, getting a reprimand by one of their female housemates, Granger Draco believed, which Weasley promptly ignored. His eyes widened as he read the first sentence.

"You were disowned Malfoy?" The shock was evident in his voice, and hearing the words aloud brought it all home for Draco. It finally sunk in what a mess is would be in now. It was virtually impossible to get anywhere in the wizarding world without money or influence. He had neither, and it was unlikely he would have either until he was long out of Hogwarts. So Draco did the only thing he could think of doing: he bolted.

Draco ran through the halls as fast as he could, just needing to be alone somewhere. Finally he reached a place where no one was around, sat down, hugged his knees, placed his head in his arms and wept.

It took a while for Draco to stop the tears running down his face as his mind really grabbed ahold of what his father had done to him. It didn't seem to fit: his father, the loving yet stern man from his childhood whom Draco adored had disowned him? It couldn't be true - yet it was. That letter was proof. He had no choice but to accept it.

And by the Christmas holidays he just about had.

By the end of first year Draco was on good terms with most of his fellow Gryffindors, though to say he was friends with many of them would be pushing it. The only one whom Draco would consider himself to be friends with was Neville, an odd combination, but, but one which seemed to work for them nevertheless. Just before the school year ended Harry Potter managed to stop Voldemort from returning using the Philosophers' Stone, winning the house cup for Gryffindor in the process.

That summer Draco spent at the Longbottom's home. It was one of the most relaxed times of his life, despite Augusta Longbottom's strictness.

During Draco's second year the chamber of secrets was opened, and he actually managed to get along a lot more with his housemates. Once again he spent his summer at the Longbottom's.

Third year brought the escape of Sirius Black. No one could be quite sure what was happening, and there was constant suspicion. Third year also brought the realisation to Draco that he was bisexual. At that point he had never been gladder that he had been disowned. It just wasn't proper to have an heir to a fortune not completely straight, or at least that was what Malfoys throughout the ages had thought. That summer Draco did not spend it with the Longbottoms, as they were due to go to a family reunion of some kind, which promised to be more boring than History of Magic. Instead he spent it with the Weasleys.

In his forth year the Triwizard Tournament took placed, and ended with the resurrection of Lord Voldemort. It wasn't pleasant, and the Slytherins seemed far smugger about it than anyone should when faced with the idea of a mass murdering lunatic running about.

That summer Draco spent that Grimmauld Place with the Weasley family, getting to know his former cousin Sirius Black better, and during fifth year Draco became prefect. The Defence Against the Dark Arts profession knew nothing about the subject, and at the end of the year was chased out of the school by Peeves, a good half of the students cheering as she went. Which brings the story up to date.